Vaccines. Don’t. Cause. Autism.

Genetics play a major role

Research definitively shows that vaccines don’t cause autism, similar to the way in which research “shows” that climate change and global warming are real. There is no dispute among scientists. Yet people persist in perpetuating theories, even those which have been widely debunked, and in so doing, continue to cause harm to children and others who cannot get vaccinated. According to Vox, a recent outbreak of measles in Minnesota is due to a spread of misinformation by anti-vaxxers.

Researchers have made progress and now believe that there is a genetic component to autism accounting for up to 50% of the risk of developing the disorder. Julia Belluz writes,

The big question now is how these genes affect the brain in a way that leads to autism symptoms. So the next frontier in this area of autism research is understanding the biological effects of autism genes (or the genes where a mutation boosts a person’s risk of developing the disorder).